Rotterdam, the famous commercial center of Holland, lies fourteen miles
from the North Sea at the union of two rivers, one of which is called
the Rotte, and with the great dam erected on its banks gives to the town
its name. To a visitor the most notable feature of this great Dutch city
is its multitude of bridges, most of which are drawbridges, continually
rising and falling like parts of a huge machine.
Rotterdam received its first municipal privileges in 1340. Its modern
prosperity dates from the separation of Belgium from the kingdom of the
Netherlands. The largest seagoing ships can now be admitted to the quays
of the town. Great cargoes of oil, grain, coffee, tobacco, and coal pass
through it, and its cattle market is the most important in Holland.
It is a remarkable fact that in Rotterdam almost every man one meets has
either a cigar or a pipe in his mouth. The Dutch are great smokers. It
is said that the boatmen measure distances not by miles, but by
pipefuls. Many of the natives are believed to sleep at night with their
pipes between their teeth, so that they may have their morning smoke
without any delay. The Hollanders call tobacco smoke their second
breath, and a cigar the sixth finger of their hands.
In Rotterdam is situated the home of the greatest smoker that the world
has ever known, Meinheer Van Klaes. His average consumption was one
hundred and fifty grams of tobacco a day. Nevertheless he lived to be
ninety-eight years old. His directions as to how his funeral should be
conducted are interesting: “I wish that all my friends who are smokers
shall be specially invited to my funeral. Each of them shall receive a
package of tobacco and two pipes, and they are requested to smoke
uninterruptedly during the funeral ceremonies. My body shall be inclosed
in a coffin lined with wood of my old cigar boxes. Beside me in the
casket shall be laid my favorite meerschaum, a box of matches, and a
package of tobacco. When my body is lowered into the grave every person
present is requested to pass by and cast upon it the ashes from his
pipe.”
It is said that these requests were faithfully complied with. There is
also a report which says that at his funeral the smoke was so dense that
a horn had to be blown to enable the mourners to find the door.
Rotterdam suffered from a great fire in 1563, and also underwent great
loss during the struggle with the Spaniards who occupied the city in
1572. Since 1573, however, its progress has been remarkable.
[Illustration: SCENE IN HAARLEM]
_HOLLAND_
_Tulips and Windmills_